City of Lancaster, March 2012
The City of Lancaster, Antelope Valley Partners for Health (AVPH), Kaiser Permanente, UCLA and Walmart have teamed up to help youngsters and teens beat childhood obesity.
AVPH is overseeing the program through a grant provided by Kaiser Permanente. UCLA’s Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities in monitoring progress as part of its ongoing research project, and Walmart provided reduced cost game consoles in conjunction with private donations.
The six-week program involves exercise and nutritional education with an extra helping of video games to encourage youthful participation. But these video games are not for couch potatoes. They are active, energetic games employing Microsoft’s unique Kinect for Xbox 360 device. The motion capture camera feeds information about the player’s movements back to the game console. “Your body becomes the controller,” said AVPH Executive Director Michelle Kiefer. “It’s fun, it’s engaging and it gives you a real workout!”
The program meets three times per week and is led by exercise and health experts from community partners. The goal is to help children knock off 10% of their weight by the end of the 18 sessions, while improving their awareness and motivation to eat healthy foods.
“We hope to have nearly 300 children enrolled in the program by June,” added Kiefer.
For more information on the program, call Jennone Marshall at 661-942-4719 or visit
